With today’s 29.74 mile ride I accomplished my typical December 200 miles with the total reaching 201.76 miles (YTD now is 5573.06 miles). This was battling a 24 mph wind with gusts to 28 mph. I could tell when I rolled out of the driveway that I would be facing some strong gusts as I rode into the southeast wind. There were a couple of places the wind was strong enough that I had to stand up and pedal. One spot was around the 15 mile mark when I rode down a slight decline and then had to pedal back up after rounding a tree-protected corner headed straight into the wind. My speed went from about 18 mph to less than 10 mph in about 100 feet. My stretch goal for December is now 300 miles. I passed two women bikers around the 6 mile mark.

Even with the wind, or maybe because of it, I averaged 15.5 mph with a max speed of 23.8 mph. The average cadence was 81.3 RPM. Riding time was 1:55:01.

Before I left I today checked to see how many miles I needed to get over the 200 mile mark and plotted my route accordingly. The heavy clouds today point to some kind of weather change coming so I might not get to ride tomorrow. It was 70 degrees when I started today and 68 at the end. Tomorrow’s high is 67 degrees with some rain possible during the night.

12-19-2011 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

Link to my Garmin Connect data. Link to my RideWithGPS.com data.

12-19-2011 Home Weather Station End